Unmentionables
by Verdot
Summary: Aeris wears exciting panties. Tifa wears white cotton briefs. Aeris means to change this.


"Are the white panties a small town girl thing or just a you thing?"

Aeris tended to be frank. Elmyra used to chide her about being forward, but her real mother had always encouraged her to be honest. So she'd settled into half listening to both. Besides, Tifa had barely said a word to her after the rescue, and it was about time that she did.

"Ex-cuse me?"

"I couldn't help but notice you wear white panties, and considering how impractical those are, I was wondering if it was deliberate or conditioned."

Tifa blinked. "I... haven't really thought about it."

Well, at least Cloud had worn exciting underwear in drag.

_ooo_

They'd picked up a zombie--not exactly, but that's what Aeris would tell people if asked directly--before the subject of undergarments came up again. It wasn't like Tifa was ignoring her, or even being territorial, but automatic bonding due to gender didn't just _happen_.

Plus Tifa was obviously inherently shy.

"Aeris? Do... you have a moment?"

"Of course, what is it?"

It was a good break from the posturing and uneasy glances that developed every time a new member joined the group. With the grave look in those large brown eyes of hers, Aeris couldn't help but shiver a little. And they were alone soon.

"I wanted to ask since you're so... worldly. What kind of panties should someone our age wear?"

Admittedly, her first thoughts were of exotic lacey things and corsets and maybe even something in leather, but when thinking about someone that looked like Tifa it was natural to go that route. Aeris very clearly remembered the tight blue mini-dress and had thought it almost criminal that there were likely just plain white briefs and a faded grandmotherly bra underneath.

"Well it depends on how many people you're expect on seeing them."

Tifa wasn't the blushing schoolgirl sort, because that sort didn't really exist in the real world as anything more than an act to fool boys, but Aeris was surprised by the sheer amount of modesty she had. Her body language showed she was uncomfortable with the subject, but because it brought attention to her. No _wonder_ she could render certain red-blooded sorts tongue-tied. She didn't know that she was a pretty well-known fantasy; the virgin with a killer body. The babe next door. Or she did, and it wasn't something she relished nearly as much as some girls might.

It made all of Aeris's wit and wiles seem a little raunchy in comparison.

"What I mean is, you do high kicks sometimes, right? Well white kind of stands out a lot next to black. You can at least graduate to black ones."

Tifa seemed a lot less uncomfortable.

"I'll help you, next town we come to. Anywhere they sell armor there has to be somewhere nearby that sells panties. Get you a proper grown-up pair."

When Tifa laughed, Aeris decided that maybe she'd have better luck than those red-blooded male sorts.

_ooo_

Giving Cloud the map and the choice of which way to go had disproved her idea that panty shops were all over the place. For all that Midgar had done to oppress her it had also encouraged her independence. Stopping a woman in the street of smaller towns to ask where they got their unmentionables often resulted in quizzical looks and fast exits. One older woman had decided it was the perfect opportunity to talk about some sort of religion that Midgar had abandoned decades ago.

At least the ninja that they picked up when they almost got lost in the woods had snickered.

_ooo_

While Kalm wasn't as cosmopolitan as Upper Plate Midgar, it wasn't as dirty as Lower Plate, and it had an actual shopping district. And as Cetran-minded as she was deep down, there was still something that liked girly material trappings. Besides Gaia was supposed to be a mother, and mothers didn't get that way by hording purity.

"Tifa, come on, we have to go shopping."

Cloud had opened his mouth to protest while she grabbed Tifa's arm and pulled her along, but Cid did some knowingly manly shake of his head. She had to give the Captain some credit; while he didn't understand the reasons why of girl culture, he did seem to understand when not to intrude upon it.

The shop window displayed all the kinds of wares that the old ladies of small towns would approve of, but the inside smelled like unfettered feminine lust and thrummed under hot pink lights. Aeris wanted to grab the nearest sales girl and hug her.

"Aeris maybe I'm... going to wait outside..."

"Don't be afraid. I'm here, ok?"

And with an uneasy smile, Tifa followed her. Aeris let her fingers idly brush against silks and satins, and silently promised herself that she wouldn't blow all the gil she'd picked off monsters and won playing cards against Cid on teddies with little pink rosebuds and sheer fabrics that left nothing to the imagination. Her main objective was to show Tifa just what kind of freedom she'd been missing.

Well, _an_ objective.

With a wink and a wave she soon had them both in a dressing room, with a nice handful of various types of black panties and a satisfying click to the door's locking mechanism.

"Which would you like to try first, Tifa?"

Selling flowers was an easy preface to showing off the various cuts and fabrics of the panties, and it took a while for Tifa to really process it all. Predictably, she pulled out the ones with the most coverage first.

"Be bold. Go with the impractical one."

Aeris dangled the thong like the temptress in most morality fables.

"Promise not to laugh if I look ridiculous?"

She thought to mention there was no possible way for her to look ridiculous without trying very hard, but Aeris had learned enough about people to not say everything in her head all the time. There was a long tense moment that drew out while Tifa removed her boots, let the white panties fall to the floor. But it wasn't as long as the moments it took for the thong to travel up her long legs.

"Um... why are you staring?"

Aeris didn't want to seem like a creep and there were hidden laws to girl culture. In its way, this little shop was a sacred space; sure, some were there to find things for boyfriends, but really, what was kept under the clothes was theirs alone. She could be caked in mud or drowning in a coat to keep out the cold, but she knew that she was _sexy as hell_ under all that.

So she changed the subject. "Have you always been around boys or something? Didn't anyone ever take you out and make you try on embarrassing undergarments?"

She avoided the word _mother_ because she knew that there hadn't been one in a long long time.

"Jessie gave me this skirt, because shorts tend to bunch on me." Her hips, the likely culprit, swayed a little as she adjusted the thong under the skirt. "And anything else I've worn... I don't know, they were castoffs. Everything except my gloves. Once I had a place to stay and people I... just didn't think about things like that."

Aeris brushed some hair behind Tifa's ear and lightly flicked the earring. "Well, there is some potential."

"How do you look so pretty?" It was kind of ridiculous the way that Tifa said it, almost like a sigh.

She unbuttoned her dress, showing off her favorite pair of red lacy panties. "Good taste, of course!"

_ooo_

While they didn't get kicked out of the place for far too much giggling and suspicious bumping sounds, they did manage to blow all of Aeris's gil and make the men in the party fear they had conjured some sort girly plan to destroy them. Only Yuffie seemed to know where the threshold was drawn.

_ooo_

And Aeris waited, counting on a time when they split up into comfortably small grouplets, when the fire was low enough for them to be invisible to slide her hand up Tifa's thigh brush her fingers against her new black satin panties. When Tifa whispered a _what about Cloud_ she was kind enough not to answer in words, but to let Tifa's own lips answer the question as she kissed her.


End file.
